Reasons To Believe Spokane Chapter

August 2003 Newsletter

Humans, by nature, seem to seek for hope, purpose and destiny. We all search for meaning and purpose in life. We question our purpose on earth, and ask why we face struggles, and wonder what happens after death. Those who deny the supernatural have attempted to deal with this drive in their own way.

Many of us have heard of the Humanist Manifesto, which is a statement of the beliefs of humanists. Humanists believe there is no supernatural, and all religion is misleading or dangerous. The manifesto was originally written in 1933, and updated in 1973 by the American Humanist Association because "events since then make the earlier statement seem far too optimistic". In April of this year, it was replaced by a new document, "Humanism and its Aspirations: Humanist Manifesto III".

These are some of the main points in Humanist Manifesto III.

Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity. The lifestance of Humanism—guided by reason, inspired by compassion, and informed by experience—encourages us to live life well and fully.
Knowledge of the world is derived by observation, experimentation, and rational analysis.
We accept our life as all and enough, distinguishing things as they are from things as we might wish or imagine them to be. We welcome the challenges of the future, and are drawn to and undaunted by the yet to be known.
Humans are social by nature and find meaning in relationships. The joining of individuality with interdependence enriches our lives, encourages us to enrich the lives of others, and inspires hope of attaining peace, justice, and opportunity for all.
We hold the informed conviction that humanity has the ability to progress toward its highest ideals.

In summary, humanists believe that we should accept our existence as "all and enough", and pull ourselves up by the bootstraps to solve our personal and global problems. Humanists put their hope in a future full of "peace, justice and opportunity for all", and their faith in the ability to create that future by human reason and compassion. They plan to ‘live on’ beyond the grave in the memories of others, or in their accomplishments.

But, given the way our universe is put together, is their hope well-founded?

The universe is expanding. That fact is firmly established. Wherever astronomers look, they see galaxies rushing away from us. In fact, the universe’s expansion rate is accelerating. This means that the universe will stretch farther and farther, and that the space between objects (galaxies, planets, even molecules and atoms) will become greater and greater.

Does this have anything to do with hope, destiny and purpose? Two astronomers think so. Lawrence Krauss and Glenn Starkman wrote an article in the Astrophysical Journal in 2000, called "Life, the Universe and Nothing: life and death in an ever-expanding universe." They point out that the expanding and accelerating universe has significant consequences that negatively impact anyone whose hope is built on human foundations.

As the distance between atoms and molecules grows, the ability of those atoms and molecules to transfer heat and energy between each other will decrease. This means that physical systems such as human beings will become less and less efficient at doing the work that supports life. The ability of our brains to gather information and to reason, as well as the ability for conscious thought, will slow down. Metabolism will go next. Eventually, even the ability for any atoms and molecules to hold together will cease.

The authors’ response? "The options: live for the moment in high-powered luxury, or progressively reduce the information theoretic complexity of life until it loses consciousness forever."

Granted, this will happen a long time in the future. The authors suggest that civilization can exist for a very long time – even 10⁵⁰ years or more. They also take solace in the possibility of finding a way out of our predicament.

"…It might one day be possible to... artificially create baby-universes via wormholes or black hole formation... Then one might hope that in such baby universes conscious life could eventually appear." However, the authors acknowledge that while these are interesting possibilities, at this point they are speculative.

Unfortunately, it is obvious to scientists in other fields that we’ll have a lot less time than Krauss and Starkman think. It is not hard to argue for a much shorter window.

As astronomer Dr. Hugh Ross says,

The physical and biological conditions necessary to support an intelligent civilized species do not last indefinitely. They are subject to continuous change: the Sun continues to brighten, Earth's rotation period lengthens, Earth's plate tectonic activity declines, and Earth's atmospheric composition varies. In just 10 million years or less, Earth will lose its ability to sustain human life. In fact, this estimate of the human habitability time window may be grossly optimistic. In all likelihood, a nearby supernova eruption, a climatic perturbation, a social or environmental upheaval, or the genetic accumulation of negative mutations will doom the species to extinction sometime sooner than twenty thousand years from now.
-- Anthropic Principle: A Precise Plan for Humanity, Facts For Faith Magazine, Issue 8, 2002.

If it’s true that our civilization will likely last no more than 20,000 – 40,000 years or so, humanists have no long-term hope. Their memories and their accomplishments will inevitably fade. If Earth becomes inhabitable, mankind could try to find another life support planet, but realistically, mankind doesn’t have the resources or technology to guarantee success in this venture. (For an excellent discussion of the problems with interstellar space travel, see the book Lights in the Sky and Little Green Men, by Dr. Ross et all, 2002, or Dr. Ross’ article, Aliens from another world: getting here from there, in Issue 6 of Facts for Faith)

However, Christians see compelling evidence that humanity has hope, purpose and destiny. This evidence comes from special revelation - the word of God. There are also many factors from general revelation (the world and universe around us) that point to something purposeful going on.

For one thing, the Earth and humanity seem to be uniquely placed where we can observe our solar system, galaxy and universe. There are very few life-support sites in the universe where this is possible. A forthcoming book by Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards called The Privileged Planet (due out in early 2004) will explore this concept further. Someone (with a capital S) must have wanted us to be able to understand our surroundings, and eventually find the special factors that make our existence possible – factors that, when we add them up, point to a supernatural Creator who designed everything around us for some purpose.

It also appears that humans have appeared at just the right time in the history of the universe, galaxy and solar system to allow for a technologically advanced civilization to spring up quickly. Our planet has been supporting the optimal level of life since the first life forms were capable of survival in earth’s environment. It has been seeded with the right elements, as well as rich topsoil, rich water supplies and easily reachable minerals and ores. All these have allowed the development of more and more sophisticated tools and the comforts of civilization that we take for granted.

But, as you can tell, this universe is not going to be hospitable for much longer. Why? God did not design this universe as our final home. God designed the universe and its laws with the goal of defeating evil, and then, as described in Revelation 21:1, he will take away this universe and replace it with a new heaven and a new earth.

Our hope comes from outside the universe – from God. God, as the creator of the universe, exists within and without the universe, unbound by its space or laws. This is the God we put our hope in. He has a plan and purpose for all of us, and we find our true meaning in him. And in his new creation we will be relieved from the limitations of this four-dimensional universe.

Couldn’t attend the RTB Conference? Attend the Web Cast!

The conference will be available via the Internet on www.OnePlace.com. (Go to www.reasons.org to register.) For $79 you can listen live, and/or access the archived presentations for several months after the conference. Also, the conference notebook will be available as a downloadable file (pdf).

Can’t Get Enough Proofs for God? Then visit www.reasons.org!

The folks at RTB have started a new service. They unveiled it at this conference. On their web page, every day, they will post a new "Reason To Believe" that is coming from the research level publications they receive. So don’t miss this great service! Check it every day! A summary of the discovery is given, with links to the actual research when available, as well as links to RTB web sites that pertain to the topic.

Resources To Know About

Watch (or record) the "Reasons To Believe" television show. The program airs on Thursday mornings, 3:00 A.M. Pacific Time on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). An archive of recent shows is also available at www.reasons.org.

Listen to the Creation Update Radio Show on the Internet

Learn what’s coming up on the next show

Who We Are and What We Do: Your Local Reasons To Believe Chapter

We’re here to answer your questions and help local Christians and churches get more answers about science and the bible issues.

Our monthly meetings enable training and dissemination of new reasons to believe.
We help people access Reasons To Believe resources, including the Apologist Training Program.
We offer trained apologists to speak at local churches and other events to share these exciting discoveries.
We provide a forum for members to discuss the latest scientific discoveries.
We bring national speakers into the area to promote the scientific reliability of the Bible.
We build alliances with churches, ministries, and groups to share the Reasons To Believe message.
We help Christians overcome their fear of science and equip them to use it as an effective tool in spreading the Gospel.
We reach out to skeptics and non-believers with gentleness and respect, encouraging them to evaluate their worldviews.

Local Chapter Contact Information

For more information about the Reasons To Believe Spokane chapter, contact:

Phone: Ray Luse (509) 465-8562
Email:
Web Page: reasons.org/chapters
Newsletter Questions? Cathy Bakken, editor, Cgbakken@yahoo.com